Dozens dead as heavy rains hit Pakistan

Hail and torrential rain hit Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Karak districts in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday.

Heavy rains battered the northwestern regions of Pakistan, causing houses to collapse and at least 25 people to die.

Rain and hail hit Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Karak districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, senior rescue officer Khateer Ahmed said.

Another 145 people were injured when uprooted trees knocked down electrical transmission towers.

Officials were working to provide emergency aid to the injured, Ahmed said. Last month, about a dozen people, including women and children, were killed by an avalanche during unusual summer snowfall.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday expressed grief over the loss of life from the storm and ordered authorities to step up the pace of relief operations.

Meanwhile, Sharif ordered officials to take emergency measures as Cyclone Biparjoy approached from the Arabian Sea.

The “severe and intense” cyclone with winds of 150 km per hour (93 miles per hour) was heading towards the south of the country, Pakistan’s disaster response agency said.

Last year, Pakistan witnessed the worst flooding in its history due to heavy rainfall. They killed at least 1,739 people, including 647 children, and affected 33 million people.

At the peak of the flooding – caused by a “monsoon on steroids”, as described by UN chief Antonio Guterres – more than a third of the country was inundated.

The disaster subsequently caused damage to most of the water systems in the affected areas and forced more than 5.4 million people, including 2.5 million children, to “rely solely on polluted water from ponds and wells”.

To mitigate the effects of natural disasters, the government allocated $1.3 billion for climate resilience in its national budget draft presented Friday.